The present invention relates to a washing device used in a container sealing apparatus such as a crown or cap striking apparatus, a cork striking apparatus, a cap fastening apparatus, etc.
In the following, description will be made of such an known apparatus in the prior art, by way of example, in connection with a crown striking apparatus.
An essential part of a crown striking apparatus in the prior art is illustrated in cross-section in FIG. 1. In this figure, reference numeral 1 designates a throat for striking a corrugated portion of a crown or cap 19 put on the top of a bottle 11, and numeral 2 designates a slider adapted to slide along the inside of a head cylinder 8 while holding the throat 1. The slider 2 is provided with an injection port 2a for supply of a washing alcohol liquid 18, a feed port 2b for the supply of crowns 19, a shoulder 2c and a centering portion 2d. Reference numeral 3 designates a stopper-striking head that is slidably supported by the slider 2 via a shoulder 3a thereof, and this serves to press down the crown 19 put on the top of a bottle neck. Reference numerals 4 and 5 designate springs which depress the stopper-striking head 3 and the slider 2, respectively, downwardly. Reference numeral 6 designates a rotary body rotatably supported from a fixed shaft 12, and a plurality of stopper-striking plunger units 10 are slidably held by the rotary body 6 at equal circumferential distances. Reference numeral 7 designates a roller provided at an upper portion of each head cylinder 8, and numeral 9 designates a stopper-striking cam formed integrally with the fixed shaft 12 and having a cam groove 9a to be engaged by the roller 7 so that the stopper-striking plunger 10 may be moved up and down as the rotary body 6 rotates.
Assuming now that the rotary body 6 is rotated under the condition that a bottle 11 filled with a liquid has been supplied and placed on the rotary body 6 at a position just beneath a stopper-striking plunger 10 and also that a crown 19 has been fed to the illustrated position, then the stopper-striking plunger 10 is lowered as a result of engagement between the roller 7 and the cam groove 9a. Thus, centering of the bottle 11 first is effected by means of the centering portion 2d of the slider 2, and subsequently the crown 19 is put on the top of the neck of the bottle 11. As the stopper-striking plunger 10 is further lowered, the stopper-striking head 3 abuts against the crown 19 and is lowered no further. The throat 1 however is lowered further as a result of continuous lowering of the stopper-striking plunger 10, so that the corrugations of the crown 19 are pressed to conform to the shape of the neck of the bottle by the action of the throat 1 as urged by the resilient force of the spring 5. When the shoulder 2c of the slider 2 abuts against the shoulder 3a of the slider 2 lowering of the head 3 stops even if the head cylinder 8 is further lowered. Thus, shrinking or messing of the crown, that is the stopper-striking operation, has been completed. After completion of the stopper-striking operation the stopper-striking plunger 10 will rise and the bottle 11 will be ejected.
During the above-described stopper-striking process, the lower portion of the slider 2 is contaminated by foam produced as a result of foaming of the liquid within the bottle, and the stopper-striking head 3 and the throat 1 are contaminated by paint flakes that have peeled off the crown as a result of shrinking or pressing of the crown.
Accordingly, after daily production has been finished, an operator 17 injects an alcohol liquid 18 through injection port 2a by means of an injector 16 to wash and sterilize the lower portions of the throat 1, stopper-striking head 3 and slider 2.
However, with the above-mentioned washing operation, removal of adhered paint flakes is difficult and there remains a problem that satisfactory washing and sterilization is impossible.
A stopper-striking apparatus is the most important apparatus in the final process of sealing bottles and achieving protection of a liquid within the bottles. Hence, unsanitary maintenance of this apparatus implies that the quality of the liquid filled in the bottles would be seriously influenced thereby. Thus, improvements in the apparatus have been strongly desired.